Apple Freezes Plan to Buy Memory Chips From China's YMTC After US Imposes Export Controls

Apple has frozen plans to use chips from one of China's top memory chipmakers after tighter U.S. export controls were imposed on the Chinese tech sector, reports Nikkei Asia.

Yangtze Memory Technologies Logo
According to the report, Apple intended to buy 128-layer 3D NAND flash memory chips from Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) for use in iPhones sold in the Chinese market as early as this year, with the possibility of eventually purchasing up to 40% of the chips needed for all iPhones.

Apple had already completed the months-long process to certify the memory before Washington earlier this month added YMTC and 30 other Chinese entities to an "Unverified" list of companies that U.S. officials have been unable to inspect. U.S. companies are prohibited from sharing any design, technologies, documents or specifications to companies on the Unverified List without a license.

The tighter controls have increased tensions with Beijing, since companies who cannot provide the necessary information within 60 days could be added to the official U.S. export control blacklist. YMTC is also being investigated by the U.S. Commerce Department over whether it violated Washington's export controls by selling chips to Huawei, which is already blacklisted.

The export controls on China imposed by the Biden administration are an effort to slow the country's technological and military advances by cutting off Beijing's supplies off from certain semiconductor chips made anywhere in the world with U.S. equipment. Apple and YMTC did not respond to Nikkei's requests for comment.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: China

Popular Stories

iphone 16 pro ghost hand

5 Reasons to Skip This Year's iPhone 17 Pro

Thursday July 10, 2025 4:54 am PDT by
Apple will launch its new iPhone 17 series in two months, and the iPhone 17 Pro models are expected to get a new design for the rear casing and the camera area. But more significant changes to the lineup are not expected until next year, when the iPhone 18 models arrive. If you're thinking of trading in your iPhone for this year's latest, consider the following features rumored to be coming...
apple tv 4k new orange

New Apple TV Expected Later This Year With These New Features

Saturday July 12, 2025 3:09 pm PDT by
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Rumors Faster Wi-Fi Support The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports ...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 16 New Features

Friday July 11, 2025 12:40 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are only two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:A redesigned Dynamic Island: It has been rumored that all iPhone 17 models will have a redesigned Dynamic Island interface — it might ...
macbook pro blue green

M5 MacBook Pro No Longer Coming in 2025

Thursday July 10, 2025 12:38 pm PDT by
Apple does not plan to refresh any Macs with updated M5 chips in 2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Updated MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models are now planned for the first half of 2026. Gurman previously said that Apple would debut the M5 MacBook Pro models in late 2025, but his newest report suggests that Apple is "considering" pushing them back to 2026. Apple is now said to be...
iphone 16 pro pro max

iPhone 17 Pro Models With BOE Displays Will Be Sold in China Only

Thursday July 10, 2025 11:59 pm PDT by
iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models with displays made by BOE will be sold exclusively in China, according to a new report. Last week, it emerged that Chinese display manufacturer BOE was aggressively ramping up its OLED production capacity for future iPhone models as part of a plan to recapture a major role in Apple's supply chain. Now, tech news aggregator Jukan Choi reports...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Complications

Apple Watch Ultra 3: What to Expect

Sunday July 13, 2025 10:30 am PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 is nearly over, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the Apple Watch Ultra 3:Satellite connectivity for sending and receiving text messages when Wi-Fi and cellular coverage is unavailable 5G support, up from LTE on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Likely a wide-angle OLED display that ...
apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

Apple Says iPhone Driver's Licenses Will Expand to These 8 U.S. States

Tuesday July 8, 2025 11:26 am PDT by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states, Puerto Rico,...
iPhone 17 Air Colors Thumb 2

iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air Rumored to Come in These 9 Colors

Friday July 11, 2025 12:30 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air will be available in a total of nine color options, according to new information coming out of Asia. The iPhone 17 Air's expected color options. According to the leaker going by the account name "yeux1122" on the Korean blog Naver, accessory manufacturers are now producing camera protector rings for the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air in colors to match their...

Top Rated Comments

siddavis Avatar
36 months ago

For people blaming China here, let’s not forget that it was not China suddenly getting lazy, trying to reduce and restrict their own exports. It is the US trying to restrain the Chinese economy to preserve its dominance worldwide. So this is a “cause > consequence” situation.
Right, because there hasn’t been any kind of intellectual theft going on for the last half century. This is loooong overdue.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
alongdingdong Avatar
36 months ago

Politics 101 is to distract your voter base and blame your problems on a foreign country. Having a common foreign enemy gives power to politicians. China is an easy target due to prolonged media propaganda and historical anglo saxon racism towards the Chinese.

Is China causing you problems in real life? No. Hard-working Chinese people is the reason we have abundant affordable products in the western world. But when the Chinese want to move up the value chain so they can catch up in quality of life, the west is now suddenly saying they're all around an evil country that must be sanctioned.

The west is basically saying to China, "no, you can't design, produce, and sell advanced technology. You must stay as our cheap factory."
Pure racebating here.

Quote:
China is an easy target due to prolonged media propaganda and historical anglo saxon racism towards the Chinese.

Such cheap un-educated one liners from your end.
You ever been into china at all? 99% of the population is Chinese ethnic and mingle only amongst themselves, Why do western countries only be inclusive and multicultural? Chinese settle everywhere in the world build up their own closed out communities in the west, that is factual.

You are only using single sided and very cheap examples, the issue is much complexer then that.

Quote:
The west is basically saying to China, "no, you can't design, produce, and sell advanced technology. You must stay as our cheap factory."

This is clearly a racist based assumption from someone narrow minded only looking at it from their own point of view.

Would not be surprised you are not even Chinese at all.
But i say this, bringing back business to western worlds and accept you going to pay more for your goods is not a bad thing at all alot of people of all cultures would benefit from more work opportunities in the west including the huge amount of Chinese living and working in the west and love living there.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
paulvee Avatar
36 months ago

Politics 101 is to distract your voter base and blame your problems on a foreign country. Having a common foreign enemy gives power to politicians. China is an easy target due to prolonged media propaganda and historical anglo saxon racism towards the Chinese.

Is China causing you problems in real life? No. Hard-working Chinese people is the reason we have abundant affordable products in the western world. But when the Chinese want to move up the value chain so they can catch up in quality of life, the west is now suddenly saying they're all around an evil country that must be sanctioned.

The west is basically saying to China, "no, you can't design, produce, and sell advanced technology. You must stay as our cheap factory."
Aside from being a slave state with massive repression of human rights, China has grand geopolitical designs that are akin to modern colonialism. You are either willfully naive or trolling.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
siddavis Avatar
36 months ago

It's nothing new for US. They've done this to Japan before. The only difference now is that China has a high chance to surpass the US due to its resources while Japan never really had that potential.

And because China has a communist government (in name only, capitalism in practice), the US has another angle to justify these policies.

The US can say "we're banning chip imports/exports to China because they're a single communist government state" instead of saying "we're banning chip imports/exports to China because we're trying to slow their growth so we can stay the world boss longer".




https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/for-america-china-is-the-new-japan-by-stephen-s-roach-2019-05

I always laugh when people think China vs the US is anything other than economics.
Sure, the US made China the villain. :rolleyes:
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WWPD Avatar
36 months ago

Politics 101 is to distract your voter base and blame your problems on a foreign country. Having a common foreign enemy gives power to politicians. China is an easy target due to prolonged media propaganda and historical anglo saxon racism towards the Chinese.

Is China causing you problems in real life? No. Hard-working Chinese people is the reason we have abundant affordable products in the western world. But when the Chinese want to move up the value chain so they can catch up in quality of life, the west is now suddenly saying they're all around an evil country that must be sanctioned.

The west is basically saying to China, "no, you can't design, produce, and sell advanced technology. You must stay as our cheap factory."
"Anglo-Saxon racism" tell that to my Taiwanese wife.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
interessiert Avatar
36 months ago

It's nothing new for US. They've done this to Japan before. The only difference now is that China has a high chance to surpass the US due to its resources while Japan never really had that potential.

And because China has a communist government (in name only, capitalism in practice), the US has another angle to justify these policies.

The US can say "we're banning chip imports/exports to China because they're a single communist government state" instead of saying "we're banning chip imports/exports to China because we're trying to slow their growth so we can stay the world boss longer".




https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/for-america-china-is-the-new-japan-by-stephen-s-roach-2019-05

I always laugh when people think China vs the US is anything other than economics.
It's not "just economics" – these Chinese needs to keep technologically in distance – look at their expansive strategy in Afrika, also in Europe over the last decade.

This is a dictatorship country willingly to reign over more than their own country.

And do not forget: Taiwan threat.

So enough good reasons to limit know how export. ?
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)